We are having a food crisis in Malkaland. Over the past week or so Malka has been rejecting most of her usual food and only eating very limited things. She will consistently eat: O's and soft, cold, plain tofu. That's it. She's also been wanting more bottles and has been drinking more at night (last night she did about 10 oz. overnight in two feedings, up from 4 oz. in one feeding a couple weeks ago).

My husband is not very creative about what to feed her and is sort of at a loss if she won't accept the usual assortment of cut up fruits and veggies, leftover beans, and standard breakfast foods. I suggested for today: peanut butter bread, pasta with EB and nooch, and a different assortment of veggies and fruit - peas, corn, apple. She has either never eaten some of these things or eaten them very rarely.

She is now rejecting a really wide range of food she used to love. Her normal assortment of fruits and veggies includes: grapes, tomatoes, kiwi, mango, banana, plums, broccoli, and berries. She usually has a bite or two each of oatmeal and yogurt and will eat beans and lentils if they're prepared in a dish like chana masala or lentil soup, but won't eat them straight. She also generally, but not consistently, likes bread. We stopped feeding her avocado like a month ago because she rejected it so many times, after liking it for a couple of months.

My only potential diagnoses are: she's going through a bland phase and doesn't want strongly flavored foods, she's having some kind of texture issue (although O's and tofu have totally different textures), she's teething (although I would think she'd want less bottle, more food in that case), or ?

I feel like I should be doing something more to get food into her, but on the other hand, that formula is pretty well balanced and she won't be terribly harmed by getting mostly liquid calories if it's just a short phase. Also, it would be nice if she went back to waking less at night. Also it bugs me that she's so into eating tofu on top of soy formula - I guess if 100% soy formula has been fine then more soy is also fine, but sheesh, that's a lot of soy! Ideas?

Miles when through a stage like this for a couple of days while molars were working their way up (they still haven't annoyingly popped though!). After they stopped hurting he went back to eating normally again. He drank a lot from sippy cups during that time. He liked chewing on them..which is weird because why wouldn't you like to chew on some food..right?!

My first thought when reading this is that she either isn't feel well or is teething. If she's drinking more formula then she's likely still getting the calories and nutrients she needs just changing how she gets them. Guineapiglet is only 9 months old so we don't have picky issues yet so I don't have advice on feeding except to keep presenting foods until this phase passes. Good luck!

It's weird because she seems to be feeling great and there's no sign of new teeth. The only sign of maybe not feeling perfect is that she has been a little more clingy and wanting to be held than usual and the increased night waking, but still not to a degree that would make me worried at all.

I think peanut butter is good to go over here! Also, unexpectedly the most exciting part of BLW has been finding food in diapers. Seriously. I never thought my husband or I would be so excited to see quinoa or rice in a dirty diaper!

Still very low food consumption over here. Yesterday we were able to convince her to eat two or three pieces of penne with olive oil. Today we tried it again andit was a no go. She put a bunch of cherry tomatoes in her mouth, but she just wanted to feel them pop and then she spit out the remains. Same deal with blueberries. (Both amusing.) Still rocking the plain tofu and O's. She's also really happy to eat like three bites of peanut butter on bread, then rejects the rest.

Hi all,Does anyone have opinions about giving your LO field roast sausages, morning star farms patties, and the like... to your baby? I'm mindful of the salt, but am curious if I am over looking any other potential issues feeding my 8 mo old these on a regular basis.

I think you might have to look out for choking, but we give Freya (also 8 months) tofu dogs occasionally, cut into smaller pieces and of course, only eaten with us around (which is the only way she eats now anyway). I'm wary of giving her lots of uber-processed stuff, but there is one brand here, Tai-Fun that makes "tofu weiners" that are just tofu and spices basically. When we were stateside, she had some Tofurkey hotdogs that also were only nice, recognizable ingredients.

I'm so excited because we just started BLW this week (when Sven turned 7 months)! It's been really fun! I was really stressed about starting solids but reading more on BLW has made me excited about it. And I love it because I can be really lazy about feeding, and I'm really glad we waiting for him to be developmentally ready for food and show some actual interest.

I'm so excited because we just started BLW this week (when Sven turned 7 months)! It's been really fun! I was really stressed about starting solids but reading more on BLW has made me excited about it. And I love it because I can be really lazy about feeding, and I'm really glad we waiting for him to be developmentally ready for food and show some actual interest.

I agree! I was stressing over it, but it's a nice, slow transition for baby and parents. (I'll admit sometimes we go a day or two forgetting to give him food!)

A little bit of success! Malka will now reliably eat oatmeal for breakfast - in fact, she is totally in love with it and also totally in love with attempting to spoon it into her mouth. We also just discovered she likes raisins. So yesterday she successfully ate: oatmeal (maybe half a grown-up serving?), a quarter of a date, a bunch of soft tofu, several raisins, a bunch of O's, a tortilla chip (most of it somehow wound up falling in her diaper - how does that happen when she's fully clothed?), several pieces of tomato from pico de gallo, and a bit of bread. Still doing terribly on vegetables, but this is definitely improvement.

She's really not into bottles/formula right now. She seems to be eating at least half of her total formula volume overnight. I don't know if offering it to her in cups would improve the situation, but she's still pretty bad at cups (sippy or regular), so I don't want to wind up wasting a bunch of formula when she spills it on herself.

The Magician has a pincher grasp now. It is fun to watch, soooo I've been giving him the flake bits from raisin bran for the past few mornings. They melt in the mouth just like bits of paper... Which is what he would eat if we weren't constantly prying it out of his mouth. He has a fixation.

Bumping this thread! Z is in love with eating! We were planning to wait til 6 months, but by 5, he was constantly reaching to share food off our plates or from our hands and cried if he couldn't have any. So far he's enjoyed avocado, cucumber, banana, bread, watermelon, carrot pudding (veganized by my MIL for Xmas), and whatever else he can shove in his mouth.

_________________when you realise how perfect everything is, you will tilt you head back and laugh at the sky. -buddha

What a cutie! So he is eating just bites of the things without any mashing? how is eating carrot pudding? We are starting this week and I thought I would try some purees first just to see how he did and then maybe see if he could do a bite of avocado or something. I am such a worrier about him choking - I guess everybody is at first.

Annasrobbie... I would definitely recommend reading "Baby Lead Weaning." It's a really quick read. I was really worried about choking and starting food in general, but reading the book made it seem like duh!

Z is so cute! And yes, Babyled Weaning really made it clear for me. There is so much conflicting info on first foods and this book really empowered me. So happy I read it. My stepsister used it for all 3 kids and loved it.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

What a cutie! So he is eating just bites of the things without any mashing? how is eating carrot pudding? We are starting this week and I thought I would try some purees first just to see how he did and then maybe see if he could do a bite of avocado or something. I am such a worrier about him choking - I guess everybody is at first.

Thank you! It depends on what he's eating! This avocado was riper than I had expected so I sliced it, and it mushed betweens his fingers, and he sucked the avocado off his hands. Carrot pudding is a British steamed cake kind of like fruit cake, so he just gnawed on it, and whatever came off in his mouth, he chewed up with his gums. As long as whatever I give him is big enough to hold (ie a large piece of steamed broccoli with enough stem for a handle), he can gnaw off what he likes. He's still really little so he has that tongue thrust/gag reflex thing going. Whenever he gets a piece of food going toward the back of his mouth that he's not ready to eat, he just thrusts or gags it back forward. We don't usually mash things, because there hasn't been anything that would be easier for him to eat that way so far. We just give him a bit of what we're having - if it's going to have a salty sauce, we just grab a bit before the sauce is added (or don't use salt). It's been really fun.

_________________when you realise how perfect everything is, you will tilt you head back and laugh at the sky. -buddha

anna, I think it's important when babies are learning to eat "big people food" to note the difference between gagging and choking. Babies are gonna gag, purees or not, but choking isn't so common at all.

So we have been having fun letting Giles attempt some food. He is really scary good and getting things right to his mouth, but then usually isn't so keen for them to stay there. He did however really enjoy some hummus smeared on some toast and was ever so adorable with a half eaten apple that he gnawed on and licked for about 30 minutes! He was a cutie with the broccoli too - kinda like that adorable picture of Leela earlier on this thread with fistfuls of broc and a great big smile!Enjoyed reading the baby led weaning book - did any of you look at the cookbook and did it provide any good inspiration? I know we are supposed to be doing "table" foods but really we haven't had much recently that I would be willing to give him...like chili last night, pizza the night before, split pea soup before that...

The BLW cookbook is pretty meat-heavy, and it wouldn't be helpful to me personally. I just dial the spice way back and gave her finger-sized bits from stews and soups. I gave her small chunks of toast soaked in soup or just a spoon of soup (which isn't so different from purees), and I'd make soups like the cabbage rice on on the PPK blog where you can cook big hunks of veggies (like entire baby carrots) till they are soft but yet easy to grab.

Please post pictures! It sounds adorable!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

As far as beans do you just give them a whole bean? Or how do they eat oatmeal and lentils - just with their hands? And I noticed C&S said one of her littles liked lettuce - do you give a whole ginormous lettuce leaf for them to suck on - smaller bits seem so choke-y to me?